Youth Training Of Trainers camp on “training skills” UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)

From the 27th to the 30th of December, members of the youth groups established by UNDP Southern Lebanon attended a UNDP Training Of Trainers workshop at Le Crillon hotel in Broummana (Matn District, Mount Lebanon Governorate). This UNDP initiative is funded by the Japanese government and aims at the social and economic empowerment of cluster bombs affected communities. The workshop gathered 45 youth from 18 villages in Section 6551, Nabatiyeh District and Jezzine District coming from different religion, political and educational backgrounds. The workshop’s objective was the enhancement of training skills of young charismatic trainers that can positively influence their surroundings. Participating youth were selected for their noticeable leadership and communication skills and according to their commitment to development issues. In effect, the workshop clarified the role of trainers and the skills needed to become an effective trainer. Sessions included presentation skills, public speaking, facilitation techniques, and trainings organization.

The workshop took place in a very pleasant atmosphere regardless of the cultural differences between participants: “we are a group that is noticeably different at all levels, however, we complement each others with our differences” declared the young trainee Samir Sabbagh who strongly
believes in the positive attributes of differences when intellectually discussed, analyzed, respected and tolerated. In fact, besides the general objective of
improving training skills, several differences and sensitive issues were
expressed by participants and were indirectly tackled through the training. Indeed, each participant had a different view of his identity and citizenship, as well as of issues such as prejudice, discrimination, peace with Israel, and the opposing culture of the West versus the East. Some youngsters were
optimistic: “we need to be optimistic and have dreams otherwise we cannot move forward”, while others were in a state of insecurity and fear “our country is unstable, we do not know what our future reserves, and there is no hope for us in Liban”. However, all youngsters agreed that through dialogue, tolerance and empathy, people can step across their differences; they approved that even though they sometimes do not manage to convince the other, they can at least manage to respect the other. This camp was a specimen of young Lebanese freely interacting with each others and reaching a common intellectual ground that permits positive
exchange of ideas and believes.